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Monday, March 9, 2020

Musonius Rufus, Lectures 8.5


In the next place it is essential for the king to exercise self-control over himself and demand self-control of his subjects, to the end that with sober rule and seemly submission there shall be no wantonness on the part of either.

For the ruin of the ruler and the citizen alike is wantonness. But how would anyone achieve self-control if he did not make an effort to curb his desires, or how could one who was undisciplined make others temperate?

One can mention no study except philosophy that develops self-control. Certainly it teaches one to be above pleasure and greed, to admire thrift and to avoid extravagance; it trains one to have a sense of shame, and to control one's tongue, and it produces discipline, order, and courtesy, and in general what is fitting in action and in bearing.

In an ordinary man when these qualities are present they give him dignity and self-command, but if they are present in a king they make him preeminently godlike and worthy of reverence.

I will sometimes hear people claim that there doesn’t need to be any conformity between the private and the public, between the moral and the political. Such thinking, whatever party or school it may come from, is grounded on the premise that efficiency matters more than character, that profit is more important than principle.

“What difference does it really make if he cheats on his wife, or neglects his children, or treats the people around him like garbage? He’s getting the job done, right? I don’t care what kind of man he is, as long as he gives us results.”

Surely this depends on what sort of job we want done, on what kind of results we are expecting. If we want a society that is ordered toward power and influence, then it makes sense to entrust it to powerful and influential people. But if we want a society that is ordered toward virtue, wouldn’t it make more sense to entrust it to virtuous people?

Performance and competence are about the means, and will be pointless if they are not directed toward the proper ends. For there to be a just community, those who build it need to both know and practice justice. For all of us to live with temperance, we need to follow the sort of folks who know and practice temperance.

“But he’s a go-getter!” 

Where is he going? What is he getting? We ask entirely the wrong questions.

"Yes, but everyone makes mistakes, right? Give him a break.”

Human nature, because it is built on the act of free judgment, is prone to error, and wisdom always asks us to be compassionate and forgiving. There is a difference, however, between making a mistake and insisting on a mistake. The good man corrects his errors, while the bad man justifies them and compounds them. It takes a good man to inspire others, while a bad man tells us to do what he says, not what he does.

Temperance or self-control, the mastery of our own passions, is one of the four cardinal virtues, and as such is a necessary component of any aspect of human life, whether private or public.

It is also, I suggest, the virtue that requires the most immediate and rigorous commitment of them all. If I cannot tame my lust, or my anger, or my fear right here and now, at this very moment when I am faced by the force of my feelings, then I am of no use to myself at all.

And I will also be of no use to anyone else, for a man who will not rule himself has no authority in helping others to rule themselves.

I could learn all sorts of things about politics, and law, and banking, either from my schooling or on the job, and I would still be ignorant of self-control. It won’t just appear automatically, or somehow seep in from my parents, or follow as a by-product from rubbing shoulders with the successful people around me. It would be a great mistake to assume that decency will manage to grow up in me eventually.

No, I will need to nurture my virtues, and I can begin with the simple exercise of taking the reins of my desires. This will require philosophy, not in an academic sense but in a deeply personal sense, where my appetites will be guided by my reason. Decisions, sometimes very hard ones, will have to made, and then I will have to follow that long road of practice, the one that leads to good habits.

This is absolutely essential for me live up my human calling. Such a human calling is then absolutely essential for any man who wishes to be a king.

Written in 9/1999


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